Sleeplessness
by mychakk
Summary: Harry can't sleep and decides to do a bit of wadering in hopes of finding some comfort. His wish is answered when he ends up at a place that gives him what he seeks. A missing scene from CoS. Oneshot HHr EDITED


_**ETA:**__ I decided to edit this little ficlet as there were far too many spelling and grammar mistakes. I'm sure I still haven't found all of them, but I think it's a bit better now. I have also rewritten some other parts and added more. I suppose it's that my writing skills improved a bit :) Oh, and it's still not beat-read._

_I hope you __still enjoy this. _

_**Disclamier:**__ I don't own Harry Potter. And after DH it should be easy to tell this. This ficlet _is _about non-canon ship after all. _

_**Original A/N:**_

_Hi!_

_I'm a big H/Hr shipper and I love fanfiction. This is my first attempt to write. I hope you will like it._

_This story is a missing scene. It was born because Pottergirl786 (author on Portkey) inspired me with her writings. I'm certainly not even a little as good as she is, but this plot bunny was nagging me._

_I'm not a native English either and this wasn't read by beta writer so sorry about grammar and spelling mistakes. Hope you will be able to understand my thoughts._

_Character may be OOC but I can't help it. __It's been some years since I was a twelve years old…_

_Anyway here it is. It's missing scene from CoS._

_Cheers,_

_Mycha_

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

**Title:**** Sleeplessness**

Word count: 2214

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Harry was lying awake in his dark dormitory. It was middle of the night and he still couldn't fall asleep, despite his very attempts to do so. To tell the truth, he wasn't able to sleep properly, recently. And the worst part was that he didn't know exactly why.

All the other young wizards in the second years' dormitory were fast asleep (as if it was hard to guess). You could always hear Ron's _far_ too loud snoring, even if you had been standing in Common Room, and Neville's tossing around on his bed was just like the nights before.

Neville didn't seem to have peaceful nights and Harry didn't know why it was that, either. He never wondered about it, didn't even think about asking his classmate. Maybe he should do so…

_It's worthless_. Harry thought sitting abruptly on his bed. _Maybe some wandering around will help me. Tire out me or something. _ He got up silently, took his father's invisibility cloak, his most precious possession, and went down without turning back.

The Common Room was lightened only by the small, dying fire in the large fireplace. Harry was in the middle of his way across the room when he spotted a book lying on the nearby table. It wasn't _that_ strange to find a book lying here, he supposed. Many people left their stuff in Common Room for the night, especially, if they planned on finishing their homework early in the morning before breakfast.

But something had caught his eye, however. It's as if the book was calling him. He shook his head, berating himself. He was being silly! Nevertheless he walked and picked it up, then read and reread the title of the book, not sure what he was really feeling.

It was _Hogwart, A History_.

Harry's heart sank slightly when his thoughts went immediately to a smiling face of his female best friend. She said she had left her copy at home because it didn't fit into her trunk. She was angry at herself, because she was sure it would have helped them resolving the mystery of the Heir of Slytherin and the Chamber of Secrets. Harry smiled slightly, then his small fell down. It was almost a month since she was attacked and they still couldn't find a way to help her.

He _missed_ her.

Yes, _Harry_ missed _Hermione_ a lot.

Her smile… her know-it-all attitude… even her bossiness…

But what he missed the most of all, was the closeness, the safety, the peace that surrounded him when she was near. There was an empty space beside him and nothing could fill it. It was like a part of him went missing. It was strange, he mussed. He has never felt this way before. And due to the fact he was only twelve years old with very hard upbringing; the young wizard wasn't able to fully understand the meaning of his feelings. Not yet.

Harry opened the book thoughtfully. He marvelled at the texture of the book's pages, at the ancient font in which the book was written, the scent of old paper scrolls and inks it was made of-

His young heart clenched painfully. In a flash of understanding the young wizard suddenly found a name to what he was feeling; a name to the reason why he wasn't able to sleep.

_Loneliness_.

Harry was feeling a strange form of loneliness. Still felt it in his small heart. _Her _absence was harder to bear than he had thought.

The young Griffindor closed the book abruptly and put it away, where it had lain before. It seemed as if he hasn't seen Hermione in ages and now after Dumbledore's departure from the school he and Ron weren't allowed to visit her even if they wanted- needed to. Every time they had gone to the Hospital Wing, they heard Madam Pomfrey saying through a crack in the infirmary door that visits are forbidden. It frustrated him immensely.

Harry sighed and walked through portrait hole silently, ignoring Fat Lady's anxious _"Who's there?"_. He looked around, but the corridor was empty. Thankfully, there was no sign of Mrs. Norris or Filch, or Peeves for that matter.

The young wizard shivered in the chilly air filling the corridor, but embraced it thankfully. The coldness sobered him a little more clearing his mind. He knew he's going to need all his senses sharp as it was more dangerous then before to be wandering alone in the castle at night, especially with Dumbledore gone and the Heir of Slytherin at loose, attacking innocent victims.

But despite the dangers, it felt surprisingly _right_ for Harry to wander around; and thus he didn't care about safety _that_ much.

It felt strangely right, and good too, for the young Griffindor to just walk down the corridor when Moon was shining through windows' glass and Peeves was scribbling some pervert words on blackboard in one of the class he passed. Something was calling Harry to continue his wandering, and he listened to it gladly. It was much better than lying in the bed, unable to sleep.

He hadn't thought where he was going. He just allowed his legs to take him whenever they were taking him; whenever this- this invisible _force _was taking him, for he knew it was calling him where he was supposed to be. It was… it was as if doing against this- this _force _was unacceptable, unbearable. So he allowed it to take him there, whenever this _there _it was.

That's why the young wizard was more than surprised to find himself in front of double oak door.

The door to the Infirmary.

He stood there, staring at it stunned. In his head, the many thoughts were running faster than the fastest broom on Quidditch pitch. …He is alone… …in middle of the night… …he has his father's invisibility cloak… everyone is sleeping… _Yes… yes, no one is going to see me, I can do it, I can go and see-_

He pushed the door firmly and walked inside. The Hospital Wing smelled just like it always did with its hygienic, hospital scent, but Harry didn't notice it. He hadn't notice anything; the very moment he passed the door of the Infirmary, all his attention was focused on a single bed at the end of the room.

_Hermione's_ bed.

He walked there quietly, not noticing other occupied beds, nor their occupants, not noticing anything surrounding him. There was only _her._

_So motionless… so ethereal…so__- so dear to him…_

Harry stood by her side, watching her every feature carefully …hungrily.

It seemed that still nothing has changed since he last saw her. Her eyes (_oh, so… so painfully dull_, his heart clenched) were wide open with that frightened expression in them and her skin was very, very pale.

She looked just like all other people who were petrified.

Yet… yet, to Harry she looked _so_ much different. He couldn't name it how or why, but he knew she looked different. Maybe the moonlight did it. He wasn't sure. And he didn't care that much about it anyway. It didn't matter. After all, he was finally with her.

The young wizard took a chair, which was standing nearby, and sat on it as close as possible to his motionless friend. He felt a calmness rising in his heart with every passing second. _A peaceful feeling that was almost forgotten._ As if… as if her mere presence was a medicine for him.

His hand moved on its own to hers when he whispered, not caring if anyone was going to hear him.

"Hermione… What has happened to you? _Who_ did this to you? How they did it? How… how can _I_ help you?" of course no one answered his questions; he wasn't expecting any answers anyway. "It's so strange without you in Griffindor Tower… so… so incomplete… And even the lessons aren't the same as they were. Not to mention Ron's and my grades… We're not as brilliant as you." He smiled a sad smile, not realizing he started stroking her hand slightly. He already felt better just by being near her, and didn't plan on leaving anytime soon.

"Ron and I wish you were with us… we miss you, you know. We're not allowed to roam alone in the castle, heck, we can't even go without a teacher to classes anymore. And now… now, we are not allowed to come here as well."

"You know, a few days ago Ron and I went to Forbidden Forest. Don't be mad at us, Hermione, we were trying to help, trying to understand what it has been happening here, trying to find a way for us to help you. And- and it helped. Yes, it helped! Not too much though… Anyway, last time when the Chamber was opened a girl had died and had been found in a bathroom. What if it was Moaning Myrtle, Hermione? Maybe if we knew earlier, this wouldn't have happened; maybe she would have been able to help us saving you… I know mandrakes will help you soon but… it's so hard to wait…"

A silence fell upon them. Not an oppressive one. Definitely not. It was one of those comfortable silences that bring the feeling of content and peace.

"There was a funny event few days ago." Harry started suddenly, laughing a little. "You know that Seamus and Lavender had detention at the beginning of the year, don't you? Well it all started then…"

Harry sat contently while telling petrified Hermione everything what had happened since she was attacked. He just couldn't stop himself. And he didn't really want to. It was good. It was good to be able to tell her everything. It was as if with every word he spoke a strange burden was lifted from his shoulder, and he realized suddenly that this was another thing he missed about his female friend. The way he could talk to her, tell her everything, knowing she will listen, and share her opinion with him, and will never judge him.

He had talked and talked and talked, until he fell asleep sitting on the infirmary chair next to his best friend. His head was lying on her stomach and his hand was still wrapped around hers. A content smile graced the young Griffindor's face.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Harry woke up abruptly, bathed in the sunlight coming from the tall window next to the hospital-bed. He straightened on the chair, he was barely sitting on, and looked around as memories of the last night came back to him.

He stretched his arms and yawned. It was the first peaceful night full of dreamless sleep since he could remember. He hadn't felt this rested in a long time, despite the small crick in his neck. He adjusted his glasses, which were askew, and looked again at the petite figure of his best friend.

The air was as chilly as before, but Harry didn't feel the coldness of it. He looked down and noticed for the first time the red wool blanket that was wrapped around him. _Strange_ he thought _I don't remember taking a blanket with me nor wrapping in it here._

A muffled thud in nurse's room alerted him from his musings. He was not supposed to be here and he definitely did not plan to be caught here. The young wizard got up hastily, yet trying to be as quiet as possible. He took of the blanket and with tenderness began to cover Hermione with it. He didn't know if petrified people could feel cold or not, but he didn't want to take any chances. It _was_ damn cold right now and-

A beautiful red and gold feather fell on the floor as he infolded the wool cloth, startling the young wizard from his thoughts. Harry watched it fall transfixed then tried to pick it up, but at the mere touch of his the beautiful gold and red feather disappeared.

_What the-?_ he thought then shook his head. _Maybe it's better this way…the feather could have been dangerous, anyway. _But, he didn't really felt endangered by it. The feather was giving him feeling of hope though he didn't know exactly why. And it did look familiar somehow, although he couldn't put it where he could have seen something like this before…

Harry finished covering Hermione with the red blanket and after squeezing her hand for the last time, more for his comfort than anything else, he left the Infirmary still under his invisibility cloak.

As Harry walked back quickly to Griffindor dormitories, hoping to not be caught, he didn't even dream that he would be coming back there with Ron in a few hours. He didn't think that maybe… maybe he will finally find out what was the beast which had been threatening Hogwarts for months. And certainly, the young Griffindor didn't think that again it was going to be Hermione who would help him with all of this, despite her still being petrified.

Alas, it _was_ going to happen.

And the young formidable wizard with piercing green eyes was going to save all those little memories deep in his subconscious, just to uncover them at the right time. At the time, when the biggest revelation, revelation about the bond shared between him and his female best friend, would be made.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The end

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_A/N This scene is my explanation __of why Harry had thought immediately about Hermione when they have been confronted by McGonagall while heading to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It's supposed to show why she was in his head. Hope you like it._

_If you like it I__ might have some others ideas about missing scenes from books that could be written as well._


End file.
